My view: Best of Preps banquet is getting closer

We’re less than two months away from the second annual Best of The Record All Star Preps Awards Banquet at Stockton Arena.

The event celebrates the accomplishments of the top high school athletes from San Joaquin, Calaveras and Amador counties. The top teams of the year, coaches of the year and male and female athletes of the year are among the awards that will be handed out on June 21.

Lincoln High graduate and now-Los Angeles Rams player Brandin Cooks will be our guest speaker.

We are announcing the winter all-stars today. You can find them on Page C5. We announced the fall all-stars on March 28. If you missed it, you can see the pages at facebook.com/allstarrecordpreps.

We're asking the community to pick the area’s best cheer squad and marching band. Vote now at recordnet.com/cheer and recordnet.com/marching. The winners will receive free tickets to the banquet. The marching band will also be invited to perform the national anthem at the start of the show.

You can vote once per day and on May 16, the final day of the contest, everyone can vote once per hour.

If you want to learn more about the banquet, visit recordnet.com/preps. If you have any questions, email marketing@recordnet.com.

Charles Washington Awards

Charles Washington, the late Edison High coaching legend, believed a young citizen’s responsibilities went beyond the classroom and the playing fields.

The Record’s Charles Washington award, presented yearly to a high school senior student-athlete who exemplifies the work ethic, values and community involvement that personify its namesake, will also be handed out at the Best of Preps banquet.

Today is the last day to nominate a deserving student-athlete for the award at recordnet.com/charleswashington.

Social media

The Record is active on several social media sites.

Facebook: I already mentioned our Best of Preps Facebook page, but we have three other pages that will keep you up to date. Our main page, facebook.com/recordnet, is where we share our news, sports and entertainment coverage, contests and more. It’s also the place where we share live video from the scenes of the stories we’re covering. If you’re interested in our local sports coverage, follow facebook.com/RecordnetSports.

The Record’s newest Facebook page, Record Live, is about our community events. Follow facebook.com/recordliveevents for updates from our events team about the Stockton Kidz Expo in July, the Stockton Auto Show & Family Festival in September and our other upcoming events.

Twitter: You can find Recordnet, RecordPreps and every Record reporter on Twitter. Want an easy way to find everyone? Go to twitter.com/Recordnet/lists/record-staff to find a list of our Twitter accounts.

New app

The Record recently released an updated version of its app. It’s faster and more streamlined to help you find headlines faster. Find it on the App Store or Google Play by searching “Stockton Record” or “Recordnet.”

Changes

A few changes are coming to The Record’s Features section this week with the goal of better presenting our local coverage to readers.

Some content is moving to different days. For example, columns by Clifford Oto and Tim Viall are moving to Tuesdays, while the gardening column, What’s Growing On, you’ll find on Fridays.

The biggest change is that Timeout will no longer be an insert inside Thursday’s paper but will be an expanded Thursday section that will still include stories about the Stockton Symphony, Stockton Civic Theatre performances, movie reviews and also 5 Things To Do This Weekend.

Here is our new daily lineup with changes in bold.

Sunday: People & Culture

Monday: Health & Fitness

Tuesday: Travel & Rec

Wednesday: Food & Wine

Thursday: Timeout

Friday: Home & Garden

Saturday: Family & Friends

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the telephone number and email listed below.